Researchers in Bangladesh simulated a solar cell based on copper bismuth oxide as an absorber and n-type cadmium sulfide (CdS) as a buffer layer. In the experiment, the device achieved an efficiency of 26.0%, an open circuit voltage of 0.97 V, a short-circuit current density of 31.61 mA/cm², and a fill factor of 84.58%.
Schematic diagram of a copper-bismuth oxide-based thin-film photovoltaic device.
Picture: Pabna University of Technology
Researchers at Pabna University of Technology in Bangladesh simulated a thin-film solar cell based on copper bismuth oxide (CuBi2O4), a p-type semiconductor that was recently determined to have a two-dimensional porous heterojunction structure.
"CuBi2O4 is a rich, cheap and harmless p-type metal oxide semiconductor," research co-author Sheikh Rashel Al Ahmed told Photovoltaic Magazine. "Highly scalable technologies such as magnetron sputtering and spin coating can be used to produce high-density p-type CuBi2O4 thin films at high deposition rates and low cost."
CuBi2O4 has a high light absorption coefficient, and also has the advantage of a narrow energy band gap, from 1.4 to 1.8 eV, the researchers recalled, this is close to the optimal value for solar cell applications.
The proposed cell described in a study published in SN Applied Sciences that simulates the performance of high-efficiency CuBi2O4 thin-film solar cells has a heterojunction structure in which CuBi2O4 material is used as an absorber and n-type cadmium sulfide (CdS) is used as a buffer layer . The device also includes an aluminum (Al) film, a fluorine-doped tin oxide (SnO2:F or FTO) as a window layer, and a nickel (Ni) layer.
The battery configuration is as follows: Al/SnO2:F(FTO)/CdS/CuBi2O4/Ni. The thickness of CuBi2O4, CdS and FTO layers are 2.0μm, 0.06μm and 0.05μm, respectively. "Compared with similar photovoltaic devices using other toxic absorbing materials, the proposed CuBi2O4 solar cell is thin enough to reduce the overall cost of cell manufacturing," Al Ahmed explained.
In the simulation, the battery is irradiated under the AM1.5G solar spectrum, and the incident power density is 100 mW/cm2. "On the best 2.0μm thick CuBi2O4 absorber layer, the proposed solar cell achieves an efficiency of 26.0%, an open circuit voltage of 0.97 V, a short circuit current density of 31.61 mA/cm2, and a fill factor of 84.58%," the paper points out.
"The proposed battery design has not been tested in real equipment, but in the near future, actual production details will appear," Al Ahmed further explained. "In order to gain insight into the ideal aspects of such devices in practical applications, numerical studies of structural performance and understanding of the physical characteristics of solar cells may be a convenient method."
According to him, numerical modeling techniques can be used to predict changes in material properties and provide important suggestions for changing designs and parameters. "Before solar cell manufacturing, device simulation of thin-film heterojunction solar cells is necessary to understand the operating mechanism," he concluded.
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More articles by Emiliano Bellini
There is an urgent need for new and cost-effective solar technology. I think the battery is still the more expensive component in the system. Second
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